Poorer

Much has been said about the increasing inequality between rich and poor in the United States. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Such news is usually reported with the implicit or explicit call for more government intervention to even the odds. 

You see, if Uncle Barry and Sweet Auntie Nancy just got their heads together and wrote some legislation, the world would suddenly become fair.

Well, I'm not buying that. Government interventions always makes things worse and then there are calls for even more interventions.

I would like to point out in this post at least one of the reasons that the poor keep getting poorer, while the rich keep getting richer. It is the tale of two nuclear power plants.

Yes, Virginia, I know that I am a broken record when it comes to all things nuclear. I am a bit obsessive when it comes to nuclear power, but for good reason. Do you think the poor would be less poor if we could all tap into that $50 quadrillion discovery that Glen Seaborg talked about?

I certainly believe we would all be richer if we could harness the most energy dense substance in the universe, thorium.  All of us would be richer, except for the producers, distributors and refiners and marketers of fossil fuels. Also, the anti-nuclear professional fear mongers would not be richer. They have a lot to lose, just like these coal miners from Australia. (BTW, this is an actual advertisement.)



This is the struggle we are in. A struggle over whether or not an energy source a million times more dense than gasoline will be allowed to flourish or whether the current coal, oil, and gas powers will be able to continue to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) about all things nuclear.

Back to the stories:

The first story you may have heard of; Shoreham Nuclear power plant on Long Island. The plant took nearly 20 years to license and build at a cost of $6 billion. Powerful forces, including fossil fuel distributors on Long Island conspired to have the plant closed before it ever delivered a single kilowatt of power to a customer.

Eventually, the state bought the plant for a $1, Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO) declared bankruptcy, and the plant never operated to produce or sell electricity.

The electrical customers on Long Island continue to pay the loans on $6 billion. Doesn't that make everyone on Long Island a lot poorer? That is everyone except the distributors of oil and gas on Long Island, who paid for the above ad

(Paid for by the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island, 132 West Cherry St. Hicksville, N. Y. 11501)

The other power plant in the story is San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), just few miles north of San Diego, California. The story reads like a Greek tragedy. The plant was recently shut down for some nuanced technical reasons, though it could have run safely producing electricity for another 20 or 30 years; billions of kilowatt hours, clean, safe, and emission free!

Now, I'm sure the beach house owners/millionaires in La Jolla, San Diego, Carlsbad, Encinitas, etc., don’t care in the least that electricity will be more expensive now. They might care about brownouts and blackouts, but their housekeepers, gardeners, mechanics, and other help care a great deal more that electricity is going to be more expensive.

SONGS was a capital investment of billions of dollars, very similar to Shoreham. Scarce resources really are scarce. We just can't waste our capital (money) and not expect to be a lot poorer. But remember, cui bono, who benefits? The coal, oil, and gas industries and antinuclear forces gain power and money at the expense of everyone else. An investigative reporter estimated that the cost of early retirement of SONGS to be $13.6 billion!!!!!  Now, we're talking about real money!

These kinds of shenanigans can't go on for very long without making the majority of us markedly poorer. And isn't that what is happening?